Hukst



(No Model.)

S. R. PARKHURST.

MAGHINBTON OPENING AND GLLANINGI WooL No. 309,978.

Patented Dec. 30, 1884.

UNTTED STATES PATENT- OFFICE.

STEPHEN Il. IARKHURST, OF MONTCLAIR, NEW' JERSEY, ASSIGNOR T() EMILY R.IIARKHURST, OF SAME PLACE.

MACHINE FOR OPENING AND CLEANING WOOL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 309,978, dated December30, 1884.

A pplication filed October 1I 1883.

To all whom it may concer/1,:

Bc it known that I, STEPHEN It. PARK- HURsT, of Montclair, in the countyof Essex and State of New Jersey, have invented an -Improvement inMachines for Opening and Cleaning W'ool and other` Fibrous Substances,of which the following. is a specification.

In Letters Patent No. 238,709, granted to me, a machine is shown inwhich the wool is opened by teeth that are upon cylinders, and whichmove in opposite directions at the place where the wool is taken fromone cylinder to another, and there are two steel ring-toothed cylinders,two beaters, and a brush to remove the wool from the two cylinders.

I find that with some kinds of wool it is not advantageous to have theteeth that are acting upon the same wool moving in opposite directions.

In my Patent No. 302,669 two cylinders are shown as acting to open thewool before presenting the same to the beaters.

The present invention is an improvement upon the machines for openingand cleaning Vwool heretofore patented by me, and the said improvementis made for simplifying the machine and rendering the same lessexpensive. In my present machine the wool or ber is opened out bytoothed cylinders moving at gradually accelerated speeds, the teeth ofwhich at the points of contact with the wool move in the same directionas the wool itself; but the surface-speed of the first cylinder isgreater than that of the feed-rollers, and of the second cylindergreater than that of the first, and the wool is turned and exposed uponboth surfaces to the action of strippers, and then taken off by adelivery-brush and passed over gratings to cause the dust and particlesof foreign substances to be blown out, so that the wool is opened andcleaned without injury to the fiber, and with a comparatively slowmotion, the wool not being eut or injured as in the ordinarywool-picking machine.

In the drawing I have represented my improved machine as in a verticalsection. The feed-apron c is endless and passes around two rollers, oneof which is shown at a', and such apron will usually be made of slats.The feedrollers b b are made with hooked teeth, that (No model i 1opening action between the teeth of the cyl! inder c and the teeth ofthe feed-rollers. The wool is carried down beneath the cylinder c, andbetween the sameand the concave segmental screen s, which, whilepreventing the wool falling off the teeth of the cylinder, al-

lows burrs and dust to fall through into the close box tbetween theframes of the machine and below the said cylinder c, and from this box tthe atmosphere is exhausted by the fan c, as in my aforesaid patent, toproduce a current of air through the grating to convey away dust fromthe wool. The wool is carried up by the teeth as they ascend at the backof thel cylinder c, and here there is a stripper, 7c, revolving in thedirection of the arrow and acting to spread the locks of wool upon theteeth of the said cylinder c, and thereby open such locks, and at thesame time strip off the burrs and foreign substances and deliver theminto the burr-box D which is provided for their reception.

Above the cylinder@ is a second steel-toothed cylinder, f, which isrotated by suitable power. in the direction represented by the arrow,and the speed of movement is such that the teeth travel about twice asfast as the teeth of the cylinder c; but they are moving in the samedirection at their points of contact; hence the wool is opened andstraightened at the same time that it is drawn off the teeth of thecylinder c, and the portion of the wool that was next to the cylinder cis now the outer portion on the eylinderf, and as it is carried up it isexposed to the action of a second stripper, h, which spreads the woolstill more upon the cylinder f, and at l[he saine time knocks off burrsand other foreign substances into the receptacle u.

By properly timing the speed of rotation of the different parts it willbe found that when the wool passes bythe stripper h it will IOO be in agood open and clean condition, and entirely uninjured by the action ofthe .machine, because the wool, instead of being torn apart byrapidly-moving teeth, is pulled partially apart by slowly-moving teeth,and as the wool becomes more open the speed of the teeth acting on thesame is increased, and the wool is pulled olf the cylinder c from heelto point ot the teeth; hence the wool is more completely opened, and theforeign substances fall or are thrown out, and the wool is uninjured. Anordinary delivery-brush might be used to remove the wool from thecylinderf, but I find a great advantage in combining with the revolvingbrush Z and blower the grating p and dirtbox p', because thebrushblower, revolving much faster than the cylinder f, draws the wooloff the teeth of said cylinder, still further opening it, and the woolis rubbed over the grating near one end of it, and then the air that isblown off from the fans of the blower causes the wool to leave thebrushes Z and pass over the grating or screen, and the dust is blown andrubbed out of it into the box p', and the screen also rubs ott' thewool, particles of foreign matter as the wool passes over the screen. Ialso use the revolving beaters m n, the trunk 7c', and the screens Z2beneath the revolving beaters, and above the boxes q, substantially asin my aforesaid patent No. 238,709, and for the same purpose, so thatthe locks of wool are exposed to nine cleaning and opening operations:first, between the feed-rollers and the cylinderc; second, in passingalong over the grating s between that and the c vlinder c; third, whenpassing beneath the stripper It; fourth, when passing from the cylindere to the eylinderf,- fifth, when passing beneath the stripper Z1,-sixth, when being taken bythe brush Z off the teeth of the cylinder f;seventh, when passing over the grating 1),' eighth, when passing overthe grating Z2 by the action of the beater m, and, ninth, when passingover the grating ZL by the action ofthe beater i1. These operations areall performed without either part running ata speed that willeitherinjure the ber or risk the prod uetion of sparks from particles ofsand or foreign matter or fire from friction, thus eifectually lesseningor removing the risk of fire, which with the ordinary picker is a sourceof constant danger, and the wool is in an uninjured condition; and Iremark that it is preferable to set the machine so that small portionsof wool will sometimes be knocked oil' with the burrs into the boxes,and to run this with the burrs alone and periodically through themachine a second time to save the wool. The steel teeth of the cylindersc and fare formed by diagonal incisions into the edge of a steel ringthat is placed upon the cylinder, or into the edge of a steel strip thatis wound up and secured to the cylinder, with spaces between oneconvolution and the next, the perpheries being dressed off smoothly.

I claim as my inventionl. The combination, with the steel-toothedcylinder c, of the toothed feed-rollers b b', the steel-toothedcylinderf, and the strippers k h, and burr-boXes, substantially as setforth.

2. The combination, with the feed-rollers I) b and steel-ifing-toothedcylinder @,of the grat/f ing s, the dust-box below the grating, anexhausti'an, the burr-box above the dust-box and adjacent to thegrating, and the stripper l; above the burr-box and at the opposite sideot' the cylinder@ tothe feed-rollers, substantially as set forth.

3. The combination, with the feed-rollers b b', cylinder c, and stripper7c, of the toothed cylinder f, stripper lz, deliverybrush blower Z, anda grating, p, and receptacles for dust and burrs, substantially as setforth.

4. The combination ofthe toothed feed-rollers b b', cylinder c, andgrating s with the exhaust-fan '0, the stripper k, the steel-ringtoothedcylinder f, the stripper h, the brushv blower Z, the grating p, and therespective receptacles for dust and burrs, substantially as set forth.

In combination with the toothed cylinder f, a stripper, h, and burr-boxat one side thereof, a d ust-box at the other side, a grat-ing, p, oversaid dust-box, a blower, Z, above the cylinder f and revolving close tothe grating p, and a trunk, k, substantially as set forth.

Signed by inc this 21st day of September, A. D. 1883.

S. R. IARKHURST.

iitnessesz GEO. T. IINCKNEY, VILLIAM. G. Mo'rT.

